Psalms 140:3

Psalms 140:3 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips. Selah.
• New International Version (NIV)They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips.
• English Standard Version (ESV)They make their tongue sharp as a serpent's, and under their lips is the venom of asps. Selah
• New King James Version (NKJV)They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; The poison of asps is under their lips. Selah

Context of Psalms 140:3

1Free me, O Jehovah, from the evil man; preserve me from the violent man: 2Who devise mischiefs in [their] heart; every day are they banded together for war. They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips. Selah. 4Keep me, O Jehovah, from the hands of the wicked [man], preserve me from the violent man, who devise to overthrow my steps. 5The proud have hidden a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the way-side; they have set traps for me. Selah.

Psalms 140:3 word by word

שָֽׁנֲנ֣וּ לְשׁוֹנָם֮ כְּֽמוֹ־נָ֫חָ֥שׁ חֲמַ֥ת עַכְשׁ֑וּב תַּ֖חַת שְׂפָתֵ֣ימוֹ סֶֽלָה׃Read the interlinear

Cross-references for Psalms 140:3

• Psalms 52:2Thy tongue deviseth mischievous things, like a sharp razor, practising deceit.
• Psalms 57:4My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down [among] them that breathe out flames, the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
• Psalms 59:7Behold, they belch out with their mouth; swords are in their lips: for who [say they] doth hear?
• Psalms 64:3Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword, [and] have aimed their arrow, a bitter word;
• Proverbs 12:18There is that babbleth like the piercings of a sword; but the tongue of the wise is health.
• Isaiah 59:3For your hands are stained with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips speak lies, your tongue muttereth unrighteousness:
• Jeremiah 9:3And they bend their tongue, their bow of falsehood, and not for fidelity are they valiant in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith Jehovah.
• James 3:6and the tongue [is] fire, the world of unrighteousness; the tongue is set in our members, the defiler of the whole body, and which sets fire to the course of nature, and is set on fire of hell.
• Genesis 3:13And Jehovah Elohim said to the woman, What is this thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.
• Proverbs 23:32at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
• Matthew 12:34Offspring of vipers! how can ye speak good things, being wicked? For of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
• 2 Corinthians 11:3But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craft, [so] your thoughts should be corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ.
• Psalms 58:4Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: [they are] like the deaf adder which stoppeth her ear;
• Romans 3:13their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; asps' poison [is] under their lips:

Commentaries on Psalms 140:3

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent - Compare the notes at Psalm 64:3. The idea here is, that since the tongue of the serpent “seems” to be sharp, pointed, adapted to penetrate (and probably the original reference in the image was derived from that idea), the wound inflicted is by the serpent‘s tongue - “as if” with a hard, penetrating point. It is now known, however, that it is by a tooth - a single tooth, made flexible for the purpose - at…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3snakes … vipers: These creatures portray the wicked as very corrupt people (see Proverbs 23:32; Isaiah 14:29; Romans 3:13).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2-52-5. This character of the wicked, and the devices planned against the pious, correspond to Psa 10:7; 31:13; 58:4, &c.Read the comment
• Rashi on Tanakh · v. 3every day they gather to wage war There will be wars in their dwellings and in their settlements.Read the comment

Topics related to Psalms 140:3

• Adder
• Afflictions and Adversities
• Asp
• Malice
• Quotations and Allusions
• Serpent
• Slander
• Speaking

In the dictionaries

• Adder
• Hunt
• Manasseh
• Poison
• Preserve
• Papyrus
• Psalms, Book of
• Serpent

Commentaries on Psalms 140

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• The Treasury of David
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary